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Lunar Empire
The Lunar Empire is a formable nation of Equestria, led by Princess Luna and her militaristic, ruthless alter ego Nightmare Moon. Unlike Equestria, the Lunar Empire is millitaristic in nature, the nights are long, and Nightmare Moon wields absolute over her subjects. Thestrals (batponies) are returning to society and idolised as the loyal eternally scorned servants of the Empress. Envious and jealous of Celestia, the Lunar Empress wish to overthrow her older sister in order to establish her own reign of law, order and above all eternal night. Lore Luna and The Thestrals Over a millennium ago, Luna and Celestia ruled Equestria together. Every morning, Celestia would raise the sun and hold court, addressing the concerns of the Kingdom and representing the royal sisters. Every evening, Luna would raise the moon and shape the dreams of Equestria's subjects, battling nightmares and imparting wisdom and counsel. Together, Harmony reigned. Luna loved her ponies, but she loved none more than the thestrals. Thestrals, more commonly known as batponies, are the nighttime counterparts of the pegasi. Featuring leathery wings, fluffy ears, good night vision and batlike fangs, these ponies preferred to work and play at night. Luna fondly employed batponies as her Royal Guard and closest servants, though most preferred the distant mountains and caves of Equestria to the growing urban centre of the new kingdom, where they faced discrimination, mistrust, and inconvenient business hours. Growing Disharmony Luna gradually became envious and resentful of her older sister, as ponies were awake to enjoy the day and to admire Celestia's work, whilst sleeping through Luna's night. Luna worked in the shadows, her subjects being unaware of her protection, both psychic and physical. Always the younger, weaker, and slower, of the two, Luna had been continually overshadowed, and now her childhood insecurities became real once again.. She longed to be a true Goddess of the Night with a warrior spirit. More and more, Luna sought comfort with bat ponies and their loyal appreciation. But instead of comfort, she saw her own pain reflected in them - every day they were unappreciated, mistreated and misunderstood by others. The Origin of Nightmare Moon Luna's bitterness is well known. But what happened next is less understood. Some ponies insist that the dark powers that infest the moon, waiting for a chance to strike, overpowered Luna in a moment of vulnerability, taking her mind. Others say that the corruption was hers and hers alone. Others say that all alicorns must struggle with corruption inherent in their power. Whatever the case, as a rare solar eclipse overshadowed the sun, so too did Luna stand overshadowing her sister, a towering warrior of the night writhing with magic energy and hatred - Nightmare Moon. To depose Celestia and usher in a reign of Eternal Night, she attacked. Celestia was driven back, unable to match the newfound power of her sister. In desperation, she called upon the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, banishing her to the moon. The struggle of two sisters was not the only battle that night. When Nightmare Moon called, her loyal bat ponies rushed to aid the mare they loved. But ponies, terrified of the eternal night and Nightmare Moon's rise, formed angry mobs, killing and driving bat ponies out of the fledgling Equestrian society and into the mountains and caves. Ponies and thestrals were split that day, and thestrals cursed Celestia's sun and those who supported it, mourning their Princess. Celestia sat on her throne, resolute but uneasy, as prophesies whispered that in a thousand years, on the Summer Solstice, the peak of Celestia's power, Nightmare Moon would make her return to seek revenge. Return and Redemption Years turned into decades, decades turned into centuries. Celestia, whether out of pain, guilt, or self interest, never spoke of the past. Luna, once a Princess of the realm, became an old mare's tale relegated to dusty tomes and stories to frighten children. Only the bat ponies truly remembered. The thousandth year of return drew close. Celestia entrusted her hopes to her star magical protege, the young unicorn Twilight Sparkle, whom she dispatched to Ponyville to learn about Friendship and Harmony. As feared, Nightmare Moon escaped her bonds. She moved swiftly, defeating Celestia and destroying the Elements of Harmony.. But Celestia's gamble paid off, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends were able to incarnate as the avatars of the Elements of Harmony, restoring the old Princess Luna. Present day Today Luna reigns again, raising the moon and patrolling the dreams of the night. Celestia has worked hard to gain Luna acceptance and recognition amongst Equestria. The suspicion of dark poorly remembered tales have been replaced by trust in Celestia's word and the powerful symbolism of unity between Sun and Moon. Luna has accepted solitude related to his role, lived in the love and encouragement of her big sister and have sworn to never let his shadow take over once more. However 7 years later, a darkness is returning to Luna, indeed to all of Equestria. Thestrels are still rarely found in Equestrian cities, generating fear and suspicion, even in spite of full legal rights. Luna, returning as their beloved Princess from the ancient stories, has championed their cause, to only minor effect. She seethes at the continued oppression of the thestrals, she struggles as her sister once again grows distant and retreats to statecraft in an increasingly threatened age. But Luna takes solace in one fact. She sleeps more soundly than she can ever recall. Meanwhile marginal religious cults dedicated to the eternal night and Nightmare Moon have emerged from the shadows, growing in number. Many new recruits report dreams in which they are called by Nightmare Moon to serve, given directions, orders and secret instructions. Can Luna resist the call of darkness? Or will Nightmare Moon rise again? Technology The technologies available at the beginning of the civil war are the same as Equestria. See Equestria#Technology Starting position Raising the fires of civil war against the most powerful country in the world, the Lunar Empire begins in a delicate situation and will require some skill to take its place in the Sun eclipse Celestia's Sun. Starting the civil war will do a few things. * Nightmare Moon will receive 40k ponypower * Existing military units will be split, with Nightmare Moon receiving between 40% and 20% of the Equestrian army - this scales with the size of the army, with the maximum of 40% reachable with 115 divisions or more and the minimum of 20% reachable with 50 divisions or less. * In addition to units received from the split, Nightmare Moon will receive 30 fully equipped new divisions, including 8 garrison / guard divisions, 3 divisions of Thestrals (pegasi), and 19 standard army divisions, and 50 fighter planes with an Ace. * In addition to units received from the split, Celestia will receive 25 new divisions, approx 50% equipped, including 10 garrison / guard divisions, 1 division of Pegasi, and 14 standard army divisions. * Equestria will keep all existing stockpiles. the Lunar Empire will not receive any stockpile. ' '''Lunar Empire - '''The Empire start with the eastern half of Equestria, from the Griffish Isles to Comet Province. It represent a population of 27.6 million ponies, however the empire has cores only on her starting territory and will therefore gain almost no ponypower advancing through Equestria. A civil war triggered on day one would give 33 divisions representing 200k deployed ponies, and a tiny navy of 7 ships. '''Equestria -' Her military industrial potential is slightly lower or higher depending on whether you have completed the industrial focus with Equestria. However its civil and maritime industrial potential is superior. A day one civil war will start Equestria with 43 divisions of 230k ponies deployed, a superior navy of 30 ships and a population of 22.0 million. Equestria has cores on all over Equestria, including the lunar empire and will gain ponypower in advancing against Nightmare Moon. '''Crystal Empire - '''will receive a choice weather to remain neutral, support Celestia, or support NMM in this conflict. The AI will never support NMM, and is more likely to support Celestia if subordination focuses have been taken. Crystal Empire has a population of 13.7M, usually less than 10 divisions. This is not a formidable opponent, but it's one more enemy you do not need. '''New Mareland - '''will receive a choice weather to remain neutral, support Celestia, or support NMM in this conflict. If NM takes '''Patriation, it will always elect to stay neutral. If NM takes Strengthen Equestrian ties, it will always take Celestia's side. Stalliongrad -''' Stalliongrad will start neutral, but will gain a decision to creep south and retake their cores. Later on when Equestria is losing, it will gain a decision to call Stalliongrad to help. Stalliongrad has a reasonable chance to accept, forcing the Lunar Empire into a two front war. '''Territory Changes and Secessions * Stalliongrad will automatically reclaim its cores * Mare Republic (Communist) will secede in the east * Celestial State (Harmonic) will secede in the southeast * Disciples of Nightmare Moon (Fascist) will secede in the southeast * Jungle Nation (Non-aligned) will secede in the southeast * Vanhoover Commune (Communist) will secede in the west * Confederation of South States (Non aligned) will secede in the southwest (usually) The Mini Civil War - '''These secessions will start a mini civil war in the south; ''Disciplines of Nightmare Moon '''Vs Jungle Nation, Celestial State and ''Mare Republic. Neither Equestria nor the Lunar Empire can intervene until later. Should the Disciples with, they will later rejoin the Lunar Empire. Should the Celestial State win, they will later rejoin Equestria. Both of these countries can take up the torch of their fallen leaders - Disciples can restore Nightmare Moon even if she loses the civil war, and Celestial State can restore Celestia even if Equestria loses. National Focuses The focus tree of Lunar Empire is divided into 4 parts. New Moon Volunteers, Review the Military, Lunar War Economy '''and Begin National Reclamation.' New Moon Volunteers Civil War Segment This tree, has short term civil war focuses relating to Nightmare Moon's rebellion. Once this civil war is over, the second half, '''End of Civil War', consolidates power and gives beneficial effects. With a Harmonic resistance, weakened army, and Civil War penalties, this path is the first step in dealing with the crisis. New Moon Volunteers and Loyalist Turncoats grants 12 and 6 divisions respectively. Support the Disciples adds 3500 Lilia-Rifle to the Disciples of NM in the South. On the left Introduce Mandatory Military Service, '''provides 3% population (though weapon production is typically a bigger problem than population), '''Military Police '''10% recovery rate and increased PP gain. The right branch removes debuffs from the national spirit '''Fragile Rule '''and grants 150PP. Most critical is A Firm Hoof, which halves or removes many penalties outright - most notably returning +15% Production Efficiency cap, nearly doubling production. Most of these foci will be bypassed at the end of the civil war some granting their bonuses regardless. The final focus '''End of Civil War removes the civil war national spirits (see the national spirits section) and unlocks the Begin National Reclamation tree. End of Civil War Segment This second part of the left focus tree is to solidify the control of Nightmare Moon on Equestria. The left branch is military notably adds 30,000 ponypower, 1% recruitable population, slight bonuses to combat and 3 Elite special divisions of Thestrals. The middle branch helps to end the loyalist resistance and heal the wounds of the civil war. Put the Loyalists on Trial allows deal with generals loyal to Celestia. Depending on the fate chosen for generals you can earn stability bonuses, political power point or and even recruit one. Being Reconciliation Efforts helps deal with the debuff of the national spirit Fractured Society. Establish the ISS provides a 5% decryption bonus and reduces the effectiveness of foreign subversive activities. The right branch allows dealings with the elements of harmony, the memory of the reign of Celestia and the prisoners filling the prisons of the lunar empire. Hide the Elements of Harmony add 50 political power point, -0.02 daily democracy support and -0.15 daily political power cost. Ban Celestia Worship makes you lose 75 political power points but brings a 10% stability bonus. Work For Your Freedom add the national spirit Work for Your Freedom, bringing factory bonuses for speed, infrastructure construction speed bonus and general construction speed bonus. The final focus Lunar Rule add the national spirit Lunar Rule, adding daily political power gain, stability and war support as well as coring all of Equestrian States, which adds a huge ponypower amount to the Lunar Empire. Review the Military This tree has standard army, air and naval bonuses. The naval tree offers a choice of bonuses for carrier and naval aircraft research or battleship and heavy cruisers research, and a second choice for destroyers or submarines. The final focus Create the Lunar Marines add a research bonus for Marine technology and Transport models. Army branch offers focuses for all 4 doctrines. Each doctrine focus provides bonuses focussed around those philosophies..Night Guard Expertise is available to both Mobile Warfare / Superior firepower and provides +10% Night attack and strong boosts to Thestralleting the Air s (pegasi) The final focus Military Research Committee add a research slot. The air power branch offers a choice for Op Support doctrine, CAS and Tac Bombers, vs Strategic Bombing doctrine, with fighters and strategic bombers. After completing both air and army trees, the final focus, Lunar Power Unleashed, offers 2x 50% bonuses to Nuclear research. The Lunar War Economy This is the industrial branch, with factories, resources, a research slot, strong magical research bonuses and research speed improvements. The left branch Expand the Arms Industry adds a total of 6 military factory, 10% construction speed, 5% efficiency cap, a research slot, and various magical weaponry and magical research bonuses. The middle branch adds resources to extract and a resources gain efficiency bonus. The right branch add a total of 10 civilian factory, the national spirit Wartime Rationing which is removed with the end of the civil war and granting -5% consumer goods factories and -5% supply consumption, general bonus for research time and a 5% reduction of the production cost for infantry equipment, artillery and support equipment for a duration of 1 year with Everything For The Empire. Begin National Reclamation This last part of the focus tree deals with the reconquest of Equestria. In addition of retaking the secessionist parts from the civil war you can subjugate once and for all the Crystal Empire, conquer Stalliongrad and put an end to the changeling threat. Strategy This strategy guide uses "gamey" techniques in order to make the civil war easier for the player. More roleplayer / fairness orientated players may take this as a guideline. General Considerations The Lunar Empire player has to consider several elements. * Industry - Should be build in advantageous locations in the east. Civilian industry will be mostly irrelevant due to harsh construction speed penalties and equipment shortages.The following focuses are recommended as they will build in Lunar territory - Military Potential, Manehattan Steel Factories and Fillydelphia Automobile Factories. * Stockpiles - '''The Luna player will receive '''NO STOCKPILES. '''Equestria will keep its existing stockpiles. Guns should be in hooves, not in stockpiles Although Lunar Empire receives only 20-40% of the Equestrian army, this is preferable to giving 100% of stockpiled equipment to Equestria. * '''Political Power - '''The Lunar Empire will not receive any Equestrian staff or design companies. Therefore pre-war Equestria should waste PP on things that will not benefit Equestria instead of building an effective cabinet- special construction decisions, prospecting for resources, useless design companies, useless high command are good potential choices. * '''Political Focuses- The Lunar Empire's greatest advantage is it starts on a war footing unlike Equestria - do not assist Equestria by taking The Ministry of Defense. The industrial tree favors Luna so is the best choice. For wasting focuses the Buffalo Relations '''tree provides little of value early on. Keep in mind that the Lunar civil war is random, so cannot be reliably timed against Equestrian focuses * '''Changelings - will invade towards the end of 1010 (this tends later if non-historical). Fighting Equestria and the Changelings at the same time will be disastrous. You should aim to win before early 1010, so you will have the time to prepare for war and use your militarised industry. * Stalliongrad - '''Can attack the Lunar Empire if the Mare Republic reaches 15% surrender level OR Equestria reaches 50% Surrender level. Dangerously positioned on the flank of the empire, it can quickly capture industrial centers. Generally winnable if the war against Equestria is going well, it is a problem if not prepared for. Starting the Civil War Take the option to ignore Luna's concerns. This will unlock '''Dark Forces and Eternal Night '''focuses. '''Dark Forces '''will give a choice of supporters. All choices are good but the civil war will mainly be bottlenecked by equipment - extra factories or pre-armed divisions is most useful in the short term needs of the civil war. * '''Scientists '-' 50% bonus to Electronics, 20% to nuclear, 40% to armor and 50% to infantry weapons. * Soldiers '-' 65% Land Doctrine bonus and extra divisions. * Factory workers '-' 2x40% research bonuses to industry, 4 building slots and 4 military factories. Eternal Night will unlock the civil war event. This is a MTTH event of 100 days (ie 1% chance of firing every day). Fighting Celestia's forces General Tactics Like most civil wars, sound micromanagement, encirclement, and a combination of smaller holding divisions and higher quality fighting divisions is the key to victory. Patience should reward you against the AI, though be careful as the AI is quite opportunistic and can catch you in encirclements as well - a dry loss of several core divisions is likely to sign the outright defeat of the Lunar Empire. The Lunar Empire doesn't have Equestrian cores, so focus on kills and encirclements, not on territory (that will come later). Worse, taking 50% can pull Stalliongrad into the war. Canterlot is the exception if you can take it (or even more brilliant encircle it) due to its industries.. Positioning Equestria will start the war with most of the army, and like the Lunar Empire, will receive many extra divisions automatically. Unlike the Lunar Empire, these extra forces are often poorly equipped. Let's hope you remembered to use up the stockpile! Despite this, the front is far too big to be fully covered and focuses will provide reinforcements for the Luna Empire. With the states that will secede and given the concentration of industry, it is best to concentrate most on the northern half of Equestria (above the narrow bit). Reinforcements will fill out the southern sections. The divisions appearing at Tall Tales are generally unreachable and should be used to tie up troops to the end (don't forget the Last Stand command. Alternatively, it is possible to make a dash for Las Pegasus, which is defensible, has enough VP supply to keep the troops equipped, and can be used to later help split north and south Equestria. Assign the Commando general to support their unsupplied trek to their positions. A few weeks after the beginning of the war a choice is offered to the player : appearing allied divisions to Los Pegasus or at Whinnyapolis. It is more useful to choose those of Los Pegasus so as to join the divisions that the player will have gone back to Jamtown. With these reinforcements it becomes possible to form a second front to the west and begin to encircle the divisions of Equestria, as in the east. Stalliongrad's Entry Equestria may call Stalliongrad at 50% Surrender progress. Fortunately for the Lunar Empire, Stalliongrad will often reject this. If Stalliongrad does join, this leaves a choice of two tactics - rush for an Equestrian Capitulation, and then fight Stalliongrad, or split your forces. Both choices have risks. Beware a small force against Stalliongrad getting encircled. Putting units to guard key cities such as Manehatten and using the last stand tactic may be a risky, but cheap way to hold while the war against Equestria is wrapped up. Keep in mind that if Manehatten is cut off from the rest of the Lunar Empire, supply issues will destroy your army - better to concede it. .Having a large army of small units will help, as they can push into Equestria or fight a delaying action against Stalliongrad. If fighting a two front, put the strong units on the Stalliongrad line, and let the light units clean up Equestria. This may be enough to eliminate Celestia's divisions. It is very likely that it will be easier to fold Equestria first and then Stalliongrad more than the other way around. New Mareland's Invasions If the game is played on historical then New Mareland will fight for Equestria. They will likely attempt naval invasions and so make sure to keep a defensive fleet (of submarines if necessary) New Mareland's low population mean that any landings, if mopped up quickly with encirclements, will essentially knock them out of the war. The Final Push If the player is not distracted, loses no divisions and regularly encircles enemy divisions, the Lunar Empire should gradually have the numerical advantage. When this is the case, start your advance in enemy territory, and be careful of some of the low supply mountainous regions in the central west. If you get to this stage and Stalliongrad has not entered the war then the victory is near, you only have to conclude by occupying the victory points while taking of the lasts enemy divisions. Focus Selection The Lunar Empire is most crippled by equipment. There is more than enough ponypower, but not enough rifles. With the Fragile Rule it suffers -20% to production efficiency cap. Fortunately, the New Moon Volunteers tree solves both of these problems. New Moon Volunteers creates 12 equipped divisions - ''free rifles! Then its a centre vs right choice * On the right, a '''Firm Hoof' immediately relieves the worst of the production penalties, enabling your factories to get replacing losses. * On the centre, Support the Disciples delivers 3 500 rifles to Nightmare Moon's followers in the south, which is probably enough to guarantee their victory in the southern mini civil war, but also lets you access Loyalist Turncoats, which adds six additional divisions. Once these 3 focuses have been completed the player has more freedom. Some potential routes * Crackdown on Rebel Groups for a quick PP surge * Introduce Mandatory Military Service to avoid any future ponypower problems thanks to the 3% of recruitable population. * Review the Military for a quick boost of experience necessary to select good division designs, and Soldiers of the Night for a boost to your combat * Expand the Arms Industry - '''will give you factories to supply your war effort, and lead to an always welcome research slot. Aftermath of the Civil War The player must now prepare for the changelings, as the maluses slough away and the full industrial might of Equestria gets to work. '''Stalliongrad - has not been taken, it is all the more essential to remove it quickly, to remove a threat of a two front war and build up factories. Disciples of Nightmare Moon - 'You will be invited to help them finish their war, or declare war on the victorious Celestial state. These should pose little problem. Once these are finished, defensive strategies are similar to that of Equestria on the standard route - well equipped infantry, good air support, use of the unique pony magical tree and powerful magical infantry, fortifications on the border, and fallback lines, and use of rivers. Remember that the Changelings tend to use numerous tank and motorised divisions - get the anti tank supports, use ''Last Stand to hold the line, and if they break through let them overextend and then encircle. Once the threat has been eliminated, all that remains is to reclaim any secessionist states. If New Mareland is puppeted, it will receive a unique Lunar Empire tree, and eventually get a wargoal against Wingbardy. Only a unified Griffon Empire can stop you now. Politics National Spirits '''Starting Spirits Civil War Spirits These national spirits are removed when you complete the focus End of Civil War. Other Spirits Leader Military Staff Chief of Army Chief of Navy Chief of Airforce Military High Command Staff and Designers Political Advisors Tank Designer Ship Designer Aircraft Designer Material Designer Industrial Concern Theorist Economy Laws Industry The factory number shown below is true only at the beginning of the civil war when the Lunar Empire controls only about half of Equestria and without military focus completed as Equestria before the start of the civil war. If the focus Military Potential, Manehattan Steel and Fillydelphia Automobile Factories are completed as Equestria before the civil war, you will start with the industrial capacity as follows: Resources